This invention relates to endless power transmission belts, and in particular, to endless power transmission belts of spliceless Mobius strip construction.
A "Mobius strip", named after the German astronomer and geometer August Ferdinand Mobius (1790-1868), has fascinated mathematicians and others for years. The Mobius strip is generally defined as a surface with only one side and one edge, made by placing a twist of 180 degrees in a long rectangular strip and then securing the ends of the strip together.
The Mobius strip principle has been utilized or proposed for various applications including the formation of endless belts and the like, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,442,682, 2,479,929, 2,784,834 and 3,302,795. However, these previously proposed Mobius strip belts were of the type that were spliced to make the belt endless and, therefore, retained the undesirable characteristic of having a splice or point of joinder in the endless belt which is subject to surface and edge wear. U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,631 has proposed a Mobius belt of woven construction. However, woven construction is generally considered to be too expensive to be practical.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved endless power transmission belt having an increased surface and edge wear potential, and which eliminates the splice therein and overcomes wear at the splice of the belt. Other objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.